POWA by Tumi Molekane

Tumi Molekane is an African poet and rapper. Tummy Molekane was born Boitumelo Molekane in Tanzania, August 16, 1981, while his South African parents were in exile. In 1992, he moved to Soweto. Originally he was the lead vocalist of the hip hop ensemble Tumi and the Volume but the group was disbanded in 2012. Tumi began a solo career, creating Motif Records. He has performed with South African artists, Blk Sunshine, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Watkin Tudor Jones, Lesego Rampolokeng, Saul Williams, Sarah Jones and Mutabaruka. Tumi is one of many socially conscious artist from South Africa.

His song POWA is a song made to fight against the abuse of woman, released in 2012. The chorus is simply Tumi apologizing on behalf of men for various abusive actions towards the opposite sex. He vows to live for the victims and listen to their cries. He calls for a power clap from whoever is fed up with the sexist ways of the world.

The song is a remix of Kanye West’s Power and sounds identical in the beat and the chorus “No one man should have all that power”. As a whole, I feel it’s a very powerful song and a much needed call of attention to the mistreatment of women.

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